Roller bearing retainer



July 23, 1946.; .J. E- LEWIS 2,404,642

ROLLER BEARING RETAINER Filed Oct. 10,1944

Patented July 23, 1946 ROLLER BEARING RETAINER James E. Lewis, Corry,Pa., assignor to Associated Spring Corporation, Bristol,

tion of Delaware Conn., a corpora- Application October 10, 1944, SerialNo. 558,031

3 Claims.

This invention relates to cages or retainers for roller bearings and theprincipal object thereof is to provide such a cage or retainer which isformed of a single piece of wire and provides a unitary cage for anumber of roller bearings.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a retaining cage forroller bearings which will separately and rotatably support each rollerbut will permit the entire bearing assembly to be handled as a unit.

A further object is to provide a retaining cage supporting a set ofrollers as a unitary group and permitting such rollers to be assembledto the inner or outer race rings,

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will be madeapparent b the following description and the annexed drawing which, itwill be understood, are only illustrative of the invention and impose nolimitations thereon not imposed by the appended claims.

Referring to the drawing, in which similar reference numerals refer tolike parts,

Fig. 1 is an elevation of part of a roller bearing equipped with a cageaccording to my invention and taken on line ll of Fig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a roller bearing assembly, and

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are, respectively, top, side,

bottom and perspective views of a cage according to the invention.

In Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawing there is disclosed a roller bearingcomprising the inner race 2, the outer race 4 and a plurality of rollerbearings 6 arranged between the inner and outer.

races. A wire retaining cage 8, which is constructed and positioned inaccordance with my invention, supports each roller for rotation aboutits own axis and releasably connects all of them together, thus forminga unitary roller assembly.

The cage 8 is formed of a single piece of wire bent to provide aplurality of roller retaining parts which are each designated by thenumeral l0. Each roller retaining part comprises a bottom which isadapted, when assembled to a roller, to li just beneath the roller andparallel to the adjacent end face thereof, and which comprises alignedend pieces l2, l4 connected by a struckup part I6 which is adapted .toengage within the depression l8 which is formed in each end of theroller bearing. The outer end of the end part I4 is turned at rightangles and continued to provide a part 20 which extends parallel to theaxis of the roller and is of approximately the same length. At its upperend the part 20 is turned at right angles at 22 in the same direction asthe part I4 and is then doubled back on itself at 24 to provide aU-shaped upper retaining member 26 which is adjacent and parallel to theupper face of a roller when the parts are assembled. The upper retainingmember 26 terminates in a downwardly inclined end part 28 which isadapted to be received within a recess 39 in the upper end of the rollerbearing. The length of the parts l2, l4 and 26 is approximately the sameas the radius of the roller whereby the struck-up portion l6 and the endpart 28 are substantially aligned with each other in order that eachwill engage the lowest points in the depressions in the respective endsof the rollers.

The end of the part 24 is turned at right angles to provide a part 32which is parallel to and substantially co-extensive with the part 20. Atits lower end the part 32 is integrally connected to the end part I2 ofthe bottom of the next retaining part In.

Each roller may be inserted within a retaining part of the cage by firstmoving the upright arms 26, 32 thereof out of right-angular relationwith the bottom of the retaining part and then slipping the roller intoplace with the struck-up part It within the depression in the bottomthereof. The arms 20, 32 are then released to allow the end part 28 tomove into the depression at the upper end of the roller.

When a complete set of rollers is assembled in a cage according to theinvention, the cage and rollers may be moved or transported in any waywithout disturbing the rollers. Also, when so assembled this unitarystructure may be assembled to the inner or outer race of a bearing.

While I have described and illustrated one form which my invention maytake it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that otherembodiments may be made, as-well as modifications of that disclosedherein, all without departing in any way from the spirit and scope ofthe invention, for the limits of which reference must be had to theappended claims.

I claim:

1. A roller bearing cage comprising a single wire formed to provide aplurality of roller retaining parts, each of said parts, comprising twostrands of the wire adapted to extend parallel to the axis of the rollerand adjacent the side wall thereof when the parts are assembled, aroller retaining member turned at approximately right angles from oneend of one of said strands, and a U-shaped roller retaining memberdisposed at approximately right angles to said strands at the other endthereof and the arms 3 of which are respectively connected to saidstrands.

2. A roller bearing cage comprising a single wire formed to provide aplurality of roller retaining parts, each of said parts comprising twostrands of the wire adapted to extend parallel to the axis of the rollerand adjacent the side wall thereof when the parts are assembled, aroller retaining member turned at approximately right angles from oneend of one of said strands Y; and having a struck-up portion adapted tobe re' ceived within a depression in the center of one end of a roller,and a U-shaped roller retaining member disposed at approximately rightangles to said strands at the other end thereof and the arms of whichare respectively connected to said taining parts, each of said partscomprising a part adapted to extend parallel to the axis of the rollerand adjacent the side wall thereof and other parts respectively adaptedto extend parallel to and adjacent the opposite ends of the roller whenthe roller and cage are assembled and each having an inwardly turnedpart adapted to be received within a depression in the center of one.end of a roller.

JAMES E. LEWIS.

